Versatile Shallow Water Anchoring/ Securing Technology

ATR has proposed a robotic anchoring system concept, dubbed"RoboAnchor,"which takes advantage of recent developments in robotics, sensing technologies, and control systems. RoboAnchor will work in both soft and hard seafloor conditions. It has three individually controlled legs (i.e., flukes), which can be used to support and maintain the RoboAnchor in an upright position on a hard surface while an on-board drill secures the device by embedding itself into the rock bed. On a soft surface, these three flukes can be coerced into the seafloor by the weight of the system and an on-board vibrator until they are deeply engulfed by the soft medium. Either method secures the anchor sufficiently to provide both lateral and vertical resistance to mooring loads. On-board sensors will be used to assist in characterization of the bottom conditions, to select the placement of the RoboAnchor and to help automate its operation. Wave and current sensors and mooring load cells will be used to provide information to a monitoring system, which will provide situational awareness to the anchor watch. This early warning capability will allow the crew to make adjustments and avoid hazardous conditions.